Non-Citizen Voting Gains Traction in San Francisco
Sing Tao Daily, News Report, Jack Shuai, Translated by Jing Lee, Posted: Jul 13, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO-- California State Assembly member Leland Yee said July 11 that if necessary he would be the first to draft the amendment for the State Constitution to allow San Francisco non-citizens to vote for School Board members.
Leland Yee pointed out that over 50 percent of the parents in San Francisco are Asian, among which most of them are Chinese Americans. However, SFUSD seemed all along to have ignored the needs of Asian, especially Chinese children's education.
He believes that Chinese parents felt useless to fight with the SFUSD for what they want. Eventually they gave up and sent their children to private schools.
He believes that the proposal submitted by Supervisor Matt Gonzalez allowing non-citizens to vote for School Board members is a great chance for Chinese Americans to affect the SFUSD's policies by voting.
Former San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne said last Friday that allowing non-citizen to vote is against the State Constitution. If San Francisco would like to allow non-citizen to vote the State Constitution has to be amended first.
Louise Renne is against allowing non-citizen voting. According to the San Francisco Chronicle on July 10th, she explained that, "I believe that citizenship is the foundation of voting. If any non-citizen can vote, then could Osama Bin Laden vote in School Board elections?"
Leland Yee is confident about Matt Gonzalez's proposal. He said, "Matt Gonzalez is a lawyer himself. He must have known that this proposal would not infringe on the Constitution before he proposed it."
He said, "A similar bill was passed in New York State. Renne should consider why it is not against the Constitution in New York."
Leland Yee said if Gonzalez's proposition encounters problems with the Constitution, he would draft amendments to the constitution, to allow non-citizen to vote in San Francisco.
He said Matt Gonzalez had not yet contacted him regarding amending the Constitution.
Chinese American Assembly member Wilma Chan's office director Rachel Richman pointed out that there is only one month left for the Assembly's meeting for this period. They had missed the deadline to submit any new bills.
She said even if the proposition is passed, it would need to be voted on by the public. It would take about two years before the issue of non-citizens voting in school board elections can be placed on the ballot.
Related Stories:
S.F. Chinese Community Astir Over School Desegregation Debate
Chinese in San Francisco Brace for Storm Over School Assignments
S.F. Schools 'Diversity' Formula Scrutinized in Chinese Community
Education < NCM Coverage
Chinese Media Watch < NCM Coverage
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User Comments
Larraine F. on Jul 15, 2004 at 12:27:19 said:
Non-citizens voting rights? I'm sorry - I'm a pretty liberal person but I draw the line there. Immigrants who are not willing to commit to becoming citizens, should not have voting rights. Period!
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